Let's Knit a Ball Pit!

Group knitting project alert!

I'm asking knitters and crocheters everywhere to help me knit a ball pit with personality! Imagine swimming in a pool of soft, squishy knitted balls, each of which is also an individual character swimming along with you... The concept is a playful, interactive experience that brings joy in every step of the process. 

The ball pit will debut at Vogue Knitting LIVE in NYC this January, a great venue because it will be full of knitters who will appreciate the time and love that went into making the ball pit possible! I hope to collect enough balls to fill a small pool that attendees can actually take a little "dip" in. Then after VK LIVE, we're donating all of the balls to the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, who will then send them to children in Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

This wonderful arrangement was made possible by Ladianne Henderson of Cheers To Ewe!, who is also now the project sponsor!

I'm accepting balls through January 3rd, 2019. The full information and free pattern is available at mochimochiland.com. 

Podcast Interview: People I Think Are Cool

 

I'm on a podcast today! You can hear me talk about making GIFs, working with Nickelodeon, and other fun stuff with Liz Reed of Cuddles and Rage on her podcast People I Think Are Cool. ⁣(Thank you Liz!) ⁣

You can find People I Think Are Cool on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Stop-motion workshops at ELA Library

I had a blast doing stop-motion animation workshops at the ELA Public Library this month.

It was inspiring to see all different ideas and stories develop in an afternoon. We had tons of crafty materials on hand, and everything from pom-poms to play-doh to 3D printed figurines got moving through pictures. 

I hope these creators keep making movies. (Anybody can do it with free apps like Stop Motion Studio!) 

Thank you to Becca Boland for making this happen! 

New Birthday GIFs

It was my birthday on Friday (a Friday the 13th birthday, my favorite!), and this year I decided to give myself the gift of taking some time out from the week to create some birthday-themed GIFs starring the gnomes wearing, appropriately enough, their birthday suits!

I'd been meaning to make birthday GIFs for a long time, so this was as good a time as ever to accomplish it. You can find and share these with your friends via the Mochimochi Land GIPHY page.

 

I don't usually have such a public birthday, but it was wonderful to get so many happy returns from people on social media. I also celebrated by going out to a fancy lunch with my husband, John. It was a good day!

Abracadabbit's Hat Trick

Happy Easter and Happy April Fools Day! Abracadabbit the amateur magic rabbit has a hat trick for us—the longer video is below. 

Thank you to John Teti for music and sound. 

Alpaca Smacka

Love rhymes with alpaca 💕

Happy Valentine's Day!
Music by R Warner. Thanks to John Teti! 

Seize The Awkward

It's awkward to talk about mental health, but it's so important to check in with your friends about how they're doing. That's the theme of the new #SeizeTheAwkward campaign that I was happy to contribute to with this image, commissioned by Droga5.

 

You can find more information on the website, and see more #SeizeTheAwkward posters by cool artists on the project's instagram. 

Season's Greetings

Wishing all you special snowflakes a happy holiday season and a bright 2018! 

Music by William Steffey. Digital effects by Maureen Boyle. 

This is the Top GIF of 2017!

GIPHY.com just announced that this little heart-knitting gnome is Top GIF of 2017, with more than 400 MILLION views! They were even talking about it on the Today Show. Unreal! 

 The people at GIPHY explained to me that love is popular, then algorithms did the rest. 

Funky Fleece 2 at KLIK Animation Festival

I'm honored to have my short animation Funky Fleece 2: Fully Wooly accepted for screening at the KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival! 

This is the first animation festival I've won acceptance to, so it's an exciting milestone. My thanks to Maureen Boyle for her help with the animation and the submission.